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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29517975">Bunker Shot</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/SuperKamiGuuru/pseuds/SuperKamiGuuru'>SuperKamiGuuru</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Criminal Minds (US TV), Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Canon Divergence - Post-Hogwarts, Crossover, Harry is a cop, Hermione is a cop, Wizarding World has Changed, wizards in america</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-15 16:31:53</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>19,779</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29517975</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/SuperKamiGuuru/pseuds/SuperKamiGuuru</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Harry and Hermione have been working hard in Magical Britain, rebuilding and moving the Magical World into the new century. However, they felt that it's time to move on. After considering at their options, they find a place with the BAU in the FBI. This is the story of their first case at the BAU. <br/>*Set in early-ish Season Six* <br/>*First Chapter is background where my story diverges from Canon*<br/>*Cross-posted with FF.net*</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Hermione Granger &amp; Harry Potter</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>35</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Background Information</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>HP Background:</p>
<p>After the Final Battle, Harry and Hermione continued their education at Hogwarts of the final year offered to those who could not attend their final year while Ron refused to. Ron went on numerous speaking tours while the other two worked hard at Hogwarts, emphasizing his own role in the action-filled final year, before trying to join the Aurors after they graduated in 1998. He failed to meet the minimum requirements, blaming Harry and Hermione for not helping him succeed. The trio drifted apart as Harry and Hermione helped Kingsley and others to restructure the DMLE and the Ministry as a whole, bringing it closer to their Muggle counterparts.</p>
<p>Both Harry and Hermione continued their educations in the Muggle world. Harry went to Lancaster University for his bachelor's degree in criminal justice and to St. Andrews for a Master's of Psychology while working in the (now defunct) Auror department to bring its' investigative practices up to modern times. Hermione went to Oxford for her law degree while helping the former DA construct a fair constitution and received multiple doctorates in History, Anthropology, and Sociology.</p>
<p>Between some former members of the DA (Potter, Granger, Lovegood, Longbottom, Bones, Abbot, MacMillian, Chang, etc…) and some unexpected aid from the former Slytherins (Malfoy, Greengrass, and Davis), they managed to pass a new constitution and structure an elected two-house Parliament to deal with make new laws and ratify old ones. Harry and Hermione also help to restructure the Law Enforcement section of the DMLE and merge it into the existing New Scotland Yard as an offshoot of Special Branch. Muggles would know it as merely a classified section of Special Branch. They also helped create, from scratch, the magical section of the Crown Prosecution Service and a Public Defenders office so that everyone could have access to a barrister during a criminal trial.</p>
<p>Twelve years later, Harry is a Detective Chief Inspector (DCI) in the Major Crimes Division of Special M Branch. He adopted his godson, Teddy, ten years previously when Andromeda died in a Death Eater attack aimed at Harry. Teddy's in his second year at Hogwarts, a Hufflepuff like his mother. Hermione is a Crown Prosecutor on detachment to Special M Branch. Neither are married, choosing to focus on their careers and changing the corrupt landscape of the Ministry of Magic instead of engaging in any serious romantic entanglements.</p>
<p>Both young Magicals have hit a wall in both their personal lives and their careers. While Harry was a young DCI at the age of thirty, he often had to fight to get into the field instead of being stuck in an office doing paperwork and inter-departmental cooperation. He spent more time filing paperwork and reviewing his detectives' work than he spent in the field doing actual police work. Harry felt like the only time he got out of the office was when there was a big raid or when there was a crime that his DCs and DIs couldn't handle. For someone who spent his childhood and adolescence constantly in the middle of everything, the monotony of paperwork was slowly killing the active man. There was even talk going around the office that Kingsley wanted to promote him to a Detective Superintendent within the next two years, which would completely shackle him to a desk. He was one of the most powerful wizards in the world, surely paperwork killing him in his thirties wasn't his fate!</p>
<p>Hermione, on the other hand, was swamped with both paperwork and arguing cases because she was only one of four prosecutors in the Special M Branch of the Crown Prosecution Service. The new requirements for barristers required that they pass both the Muggle Bar Exam required for the Muggle CPS along with the newly created Magical Bar Exam covering the new laws created under the new Magical Constitution. She spent ninety-hour weeks in the office, where the only human contact she had outside of the courtroom was her secretary and Harry bringing her takeout. Draco Malfoy, Cho Chang, and Tracey Goldwell (formerly Davis) were her fellow prosecutors and they were all just as busy as she was.</p>
<p>There were only four Public Defenders, totaling the eight total people who had passed both Bar Exams. Jackson Ackinson, Icarus Diggle, Astoria Malfoy (formerly Greengrass), and Sally-Ann Perkins were the Public Defenders and they worked just as many hours as the prosecutors. Hermione had no room for advancement because there was nowhere to go, at least until the Special M Branch of the Crown Prosecution Service becomes more established and more barristers become available, which would take at least another decade. The ninety-hour weeks were slowly killing her and she needed something different.</p>
<p>Both of them felt that they need a change. After a dozen years in public service, both Harry and Hermione were slowly being driven insane by the requirements of their positions. They both felt that they needed to be in the field, using their talents in more active ways. Hermione particularly wanted a position where she could use her skills as an investigator and fighter instead of just her research skills. Unfortunately, they knew that they could never escape the fame they acquired in the Blood Wars and the subsequent restructuring of their government while staying in Magical Europe. The only solution was looking across the pond for positions in Law Enforcement.</p>
<p>Using their contacts in the ICW, Harry managed to find out about a specialty unit of the American FBI called the Behavioral Analysis Unit. The unit primarily worked with serial killers, something that Harry had some experience with as part of his duties in Major Crimes and Hermione had experience as a prosecutor. Together with Hermione, the pair spend their summer working with the ICW liaison to the FBI so that they could become part of this specialty unit. It took until mid-October, but both Harry and Hermione managed to clear their caseloads and move all active investigations on the desks of others.</p>
<p>With help from a number of house-elves whom they had saved after the deaths of several pure-blood Houses in the Second War, the pair moved into a brownstone in Washington D.C and Teddy was set to join them at Christmas. They had to take a number of exams and file a truly horrendous amount of paperwork which took until early November, but both Magicals were finally cleared to join the BAU as soon as the team returned from their most recent case. They were to report in on Monday morning, ready to duty.</p>
<p>Criminal Minds Background:</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Aaron Hotchner: Wizard</p>
<p>Aaron Hotchner has always had a secret, one buried deep in his past. He was a wizard, born to No-Maj parents and his little brother Sean was also a No-Maj. No one in his unit knew, only a handful of upper-level brass in the FBI knew his secret. Aaron had attended Ilvermorny as a Wampus, learning magic until the age of seventeen. When he got out, Aaron realized that he was estranged from his family, particularly from his little brother Sean. This made him determined to stay in the non-magical world so that he could rebuild the relationships that he lost.</p>
<p>Aaron had the opportunity to go into the Aurors, but he decided to get his degree from Mary Baldwin and went on to get his Juris Doctor at George Washington University in 1990. He became a prosecutor before changing over to be a profiler for the FBI in Seattle. Aaron finally came back to Quantico to take up the role of Unit Chief for the BAU. Magic never held any interest to Aaron after he joined the BAU, though he always kept his wand in his go-bag just in case.</p>
<p>His son, Jack, began to show signs of magic several years ago, signs that he managed to hide from his wife. However, Haley died to Foyet before he could tell her about his secret and that their son was a wizard as well. Now that the brass had sent down an order for him to add two new people to his unit, two Magicals from the UK, Aaron knew that he had to find a way to tell Jack about his heritage.</p>
<p>He knew that European Magicals had a tendency to be… condescending to their No-Maj counterparts, as well as preferring to use magic for everything. Behavior like that would not be welcome or useful in his unit, particularly since he was the only one who knew anything about magic, to the best of his knowledge. Hopefully, the Magicals in the brass knew that when they decided to assign Potter and Granger to his team. Aaron could only wait and evaluate the pair when they came into work on Monday.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Spencer Reid: In The Know</p>
<p>Spencer Reid always had a secret, one that wasn't about him. One of his best friends was a statistical anomaly, someone who could manipulate energy at the most basic level. His friend, Marcus Bandola, said it was magic even though that was impossible. Magic was just a way of describing something unexplainable until it was possible to explain the phenomenon. Marcus had made Spencer promise to never tell anyone that he knew about his abilities. Spencer had kept that promise for almost twenty years, fearing that one of the people whom Marcus had called Oblivators would come and erase parts of his precious memory. It infuriated and terrified the young genius that they could possibly come and monkey about with something that he valued so highly. Spencer wished that he could talk to anyone</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Penelope Garcia: Witch</p>
<p>Penelope Garcia had lots of secrets. She was a former blackhat hacker named the Black Queen, acted in theater shows, and knew everything she possibly could about everyone on her team. The curvy woman was protective of those in her circle, almost to a fault, and that protection generally took the form of information gathering. Penelope had one more secret, a secret that escaped even the top brass in the FBI. She was a witch.</p>
<p>Her parents had been Magicals, killed in a car crash by a drunk driver. She had been homeschooled by her parents and a small community of fellow Magicals that lived around them but her passion had always been technology. There was very little opportunity for a job involving technology in the Magical world, so she went to Cal Tech for a while before dropping out after her parent's death to become a hacker in the underground. Penelope never even carried her wand, it was locked away in a drawer beside her bed. Now there were two new people coming into her world and she was digging deep. She had to find out if there was anything, anything at all, that could threaten her precious people when these new people showed up.</p>
<p>Penelope found several things in their history that made her dig deeper. Both had educational histories that stopped at age eleven, then restarted again at age eighteen, nineteen in Granger's case. Potter had mediocre grades in primary school, then when he reappeared to take his GCSE's, he scored A's and A* in seven core subjects. He scored similarly on his A-Levels before going to Lancaster University and rocketing through his degree in Criminology. Potter then joined a division of Special Branch that Penelope couldn't access, something that frustrated her, and quickly rose to be a Detective Constable while going to night school for his Master's of Psychology, finishing in only two years despite being on the job while taking classes. He continued up the ranks quickly, becoming a Detective Chief Inspector four years ago, earning several commendations along the way.</p>
<p>His partner was even more impressive. Granger was lauded a genius while in primary school and proved herself when she took her GCSEs and A-Levels in quick succession. She finished her undergraduate degree at Oxford in a year and a half, taking another six months to take the Bar Exam before joining a different division of Special Branch under the Crown Prosecution Service. Granger worked for CPS while finishing her triple doctorates in Anthropology, History, and Sociology at Oxford in just under three years.</p>
<p>Penelope hated that she could not access anything in their work files other than Potter's rank and public commendations, his conviction rate, and Granger's conviction rate. It was like their unit's network led down a black hole of nothingness. The only personal details that she could access were that Granger's parents were well-off cosmetic dentists, that neither was married, and Potter had an adopted son named Edward "Teddy" Lupin-Potter. Oh, and Potter was rich. Like, Richie Rich or Scrooge McDuck rich. But that was all that she could find and it was driving her batty!</p>
<p>It took her several days to come to the realization that maybe her problem in accessing their records in the black hole of nothingness was because it was, in fact, a black hole of nothingness! They were Magicals! That explained so much! But, how could she, the Queen of Technology, access information that wasn't held in any technological network!? Penelope fumed that she couldn't find anything on them and had to wait, like everyone else, until she met them on their first day of duty.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Meeting The Team</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Here's the real first chapter of this story. If you have not read the background chapter, you may want to check it out. Some things may not make sense otherwise.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>A/N: DISCLAIMER: I do not own Harry Potter or Criminal Minds and do not make any money off of this. This is my enjoyment and reviews/faves/follows are my compensation.</p><p> </p><p>BTW, I am NOT using the Fantastic Beasts part of the HP Universe even though I am using certain Fantastic Beast institutions such as Ilvermorny for school backgrounds, so if my version of the American Magical Community is different from that, well it's called Fanfiction for a reason. I am using the phrases No-Maj and mundane as the standard PC phrase for Muggles and non-magic related things in America. Hopefully, my formatting will be more consistent as I continue this story and continue to fight both and Word. Enjoy!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Bunker Shot Chapter 1: Meeting the team</p><p>Harry Potter was nervous for his first day, just like he was nervous for his first day at Hogwarts, his first time at uni, and the first time at the DMLE. He stood in the front hall of the townhouse that he bought with his best friend, Hermione Granger, pacing through the front hall. The man was neither particularly large nor especially small, standing three inches under six foot. He had a lithe build, packed with lean muscle and littered with scars, his bespoke, dark blue suit emphasizing the muscle tone. He abandoned the accompanying tie, as anything tied around his neck risked triggering some lingering PTSD leftover from his years at the Dursleys. He instead chose to leave the top two buttons of his shirt open for some breathing room. Harry tugged at the cuffs of his pastel blue shirt, nervously fiddling with the cufflinks that boasted the Potter Family Crest. A pair of simple, but expensive black Oxfords completed his 'First Day' look. He felt overdressed, but Hermione forced him to wear his best outfit.</p><p>As Harry turned to continue pacing the front hall, he grimaced at the uncomfortable weight of the Walther PPQ pistol sitting on his left hip. He wasn't used to carrying a firearm regularly, only when doing breaches on high-risk targets or in similarly special situations. However, FBI regulations required him to carry his gun everywhere outside of the FBI office, so he would do so. He was glad that they had allowed him to carry his trusted Walther instead of the standard-issue Glock 22 that most agents carried. Harry felt that the German Walther was a better-made gun than the generic Austrian Glock. He kept a short combat knife strapped to his leg in place of the recommended Glock 27 that many field agents carried as a backup gun.</p><p>Harry did take comfort in the slight tightness on his right wrist where a thick leather bracelet sat. It was his pride and joy, the result of better than half a decade of work and study. He crafted it with Runes to replace the standard hostler, a simple leather tube that strapped to the underside of a wizard's arm. The standard hostler, in Harry's opinion, was a hazard when engaging No Maj's or while in close-quarters. All it took was a well-aimed punch or kick, not to mention the accidental hits, to snap the wand in half while still contained in the leather tube. mundane</p><p>Harry looked at his watch impatiently before looking up the stairs.</p><p>"Hermione! We need to get going or we're going to be late! Apparating isn't permitted within a half-mile of Headquarters!" He could hear his housemate walking down the stairs, her heels clicking on the hardwood stairs.</p><p>"I know, I know. It just took longer to find a comfortable position for this pistol than I thought." Harry rolled his eyes.</p><p>"And that's why I told you to pick a subcompact pistol as the Bureau recommended instead of that ridiculous revolver that you insisted on. All you had to do was ask Susan for a recommendation, she would have given you a variety of guns to choose from." Hermione came into view, a scowl on her face. She was wearing a nice cream-colored pantsuit, matching heels, and lion earrings. She had a thinner version of his wand holster on her right wrist and a large Webley .45 revolver rode on her left hip. She was thin but well-proportioned with strong legs. Her brown hair, uncontrollable in her youth, had tamed itself into flowing waves without the bushiness that plagued her school years. Hermione stood at three inches over five feet, though she could glare directly into Harry's eyes from her place on the stairs.</p><p>"And I told you that my grandfather carried this gun into battle during the Great War and it was bloody well good enough for him." Harry rolled his eyes skyward and prayed for patience.</p><p>"Hermione, I've seen photos of your grandfather. He was six and a half feet tall and the size of a professional rugby forward. A forty-five caliber, large frame revolver would be sensible in his hands, maybe even a bit small. You, on the other hand, are five-foot-three, weigh one-ten soaking wet, and have small hands to boot. That Webley is going to kick you in the teeth. But if that's what you want to carry, feel free. We have to leave now if we want to even appear to be on time." Harry turned around and walked out of the front door, pausing only to grab his keys. Hermione sighed and followed him, snagging her own set of keys from their place on the hallway table.</p><p>The pair got into Hermione's new Range Rover sitting in the driveway and set off for their first day on the job. A new adventure in a new land.</p><p>Emily was sitting at her desk, leisurely completing the paperwork from their last case as she waited for her co-workers to trickle into the office. She knew that Derek would be coming in next, followed closely by Rossi and Spencer. Hotch, of course, had been in his office working since well before even she arrived. Since the death of his wife, Hotch often worked early in the morning so that he could be home in time to spend time with Jack, his son, during the evenings that the team was in town.</p><p>A pair of people, one male, and one female, stepped off the elevator, attracting Emily's attention. It wasn't the fact that they were stepping off that attracted her attention, plenty of people worked on this floor. It wasn't even the fact that they were coming straight into the bullpen and she didn't know them. There were several analysts who worked in the BAU whom she hadn't met despite her years in the unit. There was something about their gaits and postures that drew her attention to the pair.</p><p>The man, dressed in an obviously tailored blue suit, had messy black hair and striking green eyes. His eyes caught everything, though the actual movements of his eyes were minimal. He wasn't tall by any means, nor particularly imposing, but his posture was that of someone who knew how to handle themselves. There were a couple of obvious scars on the exposed parts of his body, the most obvious of which was a lightning bolt scar over his right eyebrow and a small scar just under his left eye.</p><p>The man subtly maintained a protective position for the woman who was a half-step behind him, although neither appeared consciously aware of their positions. That alone spoke of a long-time partnership, one that had faced both fire and trial. The man's positioning ensured that he was the first assessed by any potential enemies, leaving his partner either safe or as an unknown quantity. Emily's eyes then flicked back to observe his partner.</p><p>The woman was stunning, thin yet curvy in all the right places. She was average height for a woman, with wavy brown hair and honey-brown eyes. The woman wore a charcoal grey pantsuit and tasteful low-heeled shoes. While her clothes were not as obviously expensive as her male counterparts, they were still well-made and of high-quality material. She had a small bag slung over one shoulder and a massive revolver in a leather holster on her hip which wasn't covered by her suit jacket. Emily recognized the distinctive frame of an old Webley, the British officer service weapon from the Second World War.</p><p>The slim woman held herself like a fighter, every step balanced regardless of the thin heels she wore. Her eyes held a similar glint of intelligence as Reid, though hers were tempered with caution and wariness that the young genius still needed to fully develop. She held an air of fond exasperation with her dark-haired companion, obviously aware of his protective position and well-used to it.</p><p>Emily got the immediate impression that the pair was either married (unlikely based on the lack of rings adorning their left hands, but possible) or had been partners for such a long time that they no longer needed traditional methods of communication. She couldn't get an accurate read on their ages, but they were likely a similar age to herself or older and just did not show their ages. She was guessing that the woman was a powerful woman, likely a congresswoman or major ADA, and the man was her long-time bodyguard. The Supervisory Special Agent was surprised when the pair stopped at her desk.</p><p>"Ma'am?" She was startled to hear a crisp London accent come from the man. "Is that," he indicated Hotch's office, "the office of Agent Hotchner?" Emily nodded, but raised a hand in front of him, stopping him as he began to move towards the stairs.</p><p>"Sir? Agent Hotchner is fairly busy right now, maybe I can be of some help?" The man shook his head and moved around her hand.</p><p>"Unfortunately, we must speak with Agent Hotchner directly and we're already running late." The man reached into his jacket but halted when a voice came from behind them, causing Emily to mentally groan.</p><p>"Sir? I'm going to have to ask you to hold on. Agent Hotchner is a busy man. I'm sure that whatever you need, myself or Agent Prentiss can help you." Derek, a tall and well-built African-American man, maneuvered himself in front of the dark-haired stranger. "Trust me."</p><p>The man looked down at the large hand placed on his shoulder in a vaguely threatening manner. He looked up and Emily was surprised to see a glint of amusement in the man's vibrantly green eyes. He continued removing his hand from the inside of his jacket and produced a thin leather case, flipping it open to reveal an FBI badge. Derek and Emily both blinked at the badge, though Derek maintained his position.</p><p>"Mate, I think I'm good. We are going to have an issue if you don't let go, however." Derek quickly removed his hand from the smaller man's shoulder, looking at the badge presented to him. Emily saw the woman casually jab an elbow into her partner's ribcage as she brushed past him. The man scowled at her and rubbed his injured ribs.</p><p>"Harry, stop being a prick for your own amusement. It's less funny here. Hello, I'm Agent Hermione Granger. And you are…?" She extended her hand to shake with the other two agents.</p><p>"Uh, Agent Derek Morgan, ma'am. This is Agent Emily Prentiss."</p><p>Hermione glared down at her partner and made a motion of her head towards Morgan and Prentiss. The man, Harry, shrugged and introduced himself.</p><p>"Fine. DCI… no, that's not right anymore, is it? Agent Harry Potter." Emily's eyebrows rose. He was a former DCI? At his age? What would make someone on the fast track like that move agencies, let alone change countries? "We have an appointment with Agent Hotchner, so can we go now? Someone," Potter covertly motioned towards Hermione, "took forever getting ready this morning, so we're already running late." Derek stepped aside, mutely allowing the two Brits up the stairs. Both followed the pair with their eyes until they disappeared into Hotch's office.</p><p>"Are we getting two new people?" Emily shrugged helplessly in answer to Derek's question.</p><p>Aaron Hotchner was sitting in his office, going over potential cases for the team that Garcia had passed on to him. He looked up at a knock on his office door.</p><p>"Come." Two people, a man and woman, entered his office and he suddenly remembered that he was supposed to have two new people coming in today. Worse, they were Magicals and Aaron hated working with Magicals, the few times that he had to work with them. Aaron internally grimaced but stood and extended a hand towards the pair.</p><p>"Hello, you must be Agents Potter and Granger." The man (Potter, if Aaron remembered his name correctly) took his hand, Aaron noting the calluses covering his fingers and palm. He also took note of a peculiar scar that looked like writing on the back of Potter's right hand. His companion, Granger, shook Aaron's hand next. Her hand had fewer calluses, but still had more than he expected from a European Magical.</p><p>The Unit Chief for the BAU sat behind his desk, examining his new team members with new eyes. Most European Magicals that he had met were soft-handed, a bit overweight, and held themselves superior to anyone that did not have full magical heritage. These two, so far, didn't fit that profile. Both seemed to be fit, humble, and hard-working, leaving the profiler floundering without a valid profile to work from. Hopefully, he could keep the fact that he was a Magical himself out of the conversation, relying on the fact that Unit Chiefs and above were read into the Magical World. So far, Aaron had interacted with numerous Magicals over his time at the Bureau and none had suspected that he used to practice Magic. He doubted these two would be any different.</p><p>Frustratingly, even with his Top Secret security clearance, Aaron's files on both Potter and Granger's personal and professional lives in the Magical community were heavily redacted. He knew their final scores on their OWLs and NEWTs, their mundane post-secondary education records, and their general conviction rates as Auror and Prosecutor. Anything else, the British Government told him, he had to learn from Potter and Granger themselves. They were the only ones cleared to tell anyone outside of the European Magical Communities what their roles were. The one thing that irked Aaron more than almost anything else was not getting all the information he needed to make a decision before having to make the decision.</p><p>"Agents, I have to say that I am hesitant to allow you two to join my team. While we are presently short-handed, I'm not sure that Magicals would be the proper fit to fill the open gaps, even Magicals with stellar mundane qualifications such as yourselves, though I know how easily obtained mundane qualifications are for Magicals in Europe." Agent Potter's face darkened as he leaned forward, though his forward progress was stopped at a touch from Agent Granger. He leaned back, a scowl dominating his sharp features.</p><p>"Agent Hotchner, I assume you are unaware of who we are in the British Magical Community or in the recent changes that the European Magical Communities have recently gone through?" Aaron furrowed his brow at that. What changes? He had been out of the loop, so to speak, on Magical events for over twenty years but the European communities hadn't made a significant change in over two hundred years as far as he knew.</p><p>"I'm not aware of anything significant changing since I was briefed on the Magical World a number of years ago. The primary point that I'm referring to is the rampant bigotry that is characteristic of the European Magical Community. So if who you are has something to do with who you are related to, then I really don't care." Agent Potter shifted forward, his emerald eyes drilling into Aaron's dark eyes.</p><p>"Well, Agent Hotchner, the bottom line is that Magical society has caught up with the times on the other side of the pond. And we helped catch them up. Were you read in on the Blood Wars in England a little over a decade ago?" Aaron nodded. He was read in by the FBI, but he also remembered hearing about Voldemort while in school, not long after he died from some freak accident involving a child… Wait. This was the Harry Potter, Britain's Golden Savior?</p><p>"Long story exceptionally short, Dark Wizard named Voldemort came back when I was a teen, tried to kill essentially everyone in Britain, I killed him a couple of years later but he took most of the pure-blood powerbase with him. So we, along with others in our year group, helped to create a new constitution and created a new form of governing. I helped combine the DMLE with New Scotland Yard as a division of Special Branch while Hermione helped to build both the Magical branch of the Crown Prosecution Office and a Public Defenders office. We both worked exceptionally hard for our qualifications so trust me, Agent Hotchner, when I tell you that your comment about our qualifications was deeply offensive." Potter continually made eye contact with Aaron the entire time he was talking, his green eyes glowing with suppressed power and indignation.</p><p>"My apologies. I jumped to conclusions based on the information that I had about the European Magical Community." Potter nodded and leaned back, content to allow Granger to continue speaking for the pair.</p><p>"Trust us, Agent, we have our own bad experiences with the Magical world. I'm a Muggleborn, or I guess you would call me a Mundane-born here in the States. Growing up in pure-blood-controlled Britain, I've had my share of bigotry thrown my way. Harry has his own issues with our world, which is one of the reasons that we decided to make this move. We are both competent and have been tested and vetted by the highest levels of your agency and trained by those in the highest levels of our home country. Honestly, I believe that Harry is more valuable to you than me here. He spent the last twelve years as an active Auror in Major Crimes, the past four years as a DCI, whereas I have spent the last twelve years behind a desk as a prosecutor." Aaron felt his eyebrows go up in spite of himself. A DCI at age twenty-six was a feat by itself, to do so while also building a government and going to school made the feat even more impressive. He did feel the need to reassure Granger, however, as her own accomplishments were exceptional and valid.</p><p>"Agent Granger, I was a prosecutor myself before I decided to join the FBI and become a profiler. Your background is every bit as valuable to the FBI as Agent Potter's. My concern is that you were both involved in primarily Magical crimes. My team typically deals with serial killers of the mundane variety." Potter leaned forward again.</p><p>"And you're positive that none of the cases sitting in your 'Pending' stack are Magical serial killers that you've overlooked? It's really easy to not make the connections with Magical Crimes unless you focus on it. I've personally put away a dozen magical serial killers in the past six years alone, not including the rest of the detectives in my division. People are people, regardless of their abilities in magic. I also helped catch a couple of serials that came across my desk while working with the No Maj side of New Scotland Yard."</p><p>Aaron frowned at that. That was an angle he hadn't really considered. What if his team ran into a Magical serial killer? He certainly wasn't equipped to fight anyone with magic, even though he still secretly kept his wand in his go-bag as a precaution. If Agent Potter was telling the truth, there could be cases that his team undertook that they couldn't solve without help. Or there were cases that they could help with that were currently being overlooked because his team didn't know what to look for?</p><p>"Alright, Agent Potter. We're going to try this on a trial basis, make sure that you two fit with the established dynamic of our team. I assume that both of you know that the Statute of Secrecy is taken exceptionally seriously by the FBI and that none of the rest of the team can know about our abilities?" Potter and Granger nodded. "Do either of you carry a gun and know how to use it? You can't be in the field with just your wands." Potter smirked.</p><p>"Agent Hotchner, I've worked with the mundane police before. We are both following FBI protocol and have our weapons on us, as well as having qualified on the range prior to coming here. We also have our wands," Potter held up his wrist and showed him a thick leather bracelet. Aaron frowned.</p><p>"You use a bracelet as a wand?" It was Potter's turn to frown.</p><p>"No, the bracelet is a wand holster. It's essentially standard issue for every Magical cop in the world." Aaron blinked. He hadn't heard of any innovations in holsters, but then again, he didn't really pay attention either. No one knew he was a wizard, so there was no reason for the FBI to keep him in the loop on specialized information such as that.</p><p>"Ok. Well, we have a meeting in just a few minutes to brief on our new case. Do you two have Go Bags?" Potter stifled a laugh. He elaborated at a raised eyebrow from Aaron, digging out a small pouch from his pants pocket. Granger glared at the obviously amused Potter before bringing out a beaded pouch from her purse.</p><p>"We've had a 'Go Bag' on us every day since we were forced on the run at sixteen. No one back home ever understood why we kept three weeks of clothes and rations on us at all times." Aaron let slip a rare smile.</p><p>"Well, three weeks might be a bit excessive but Go Bags are a normal aspect of the BAU. I would recommend a more conventional bag for appearance's sake, however. Perhaps a duffle or a small suitcase?"</p><p>A knock came on his door and it opened a small amount.</p><p>"Sir?" A red-haired woman in… interesting… glasses poked her head into the office. She had a round face and her hair was pulled up into pigtails. "We're ready for you in the conference room." The woman looked to the side and did a double-take. "I'm really sorry, sir, I didn't know you were in a meeting." Aaron stood up and motioned her to open the door more.</p><p>"That's alright, Garcia. These are Agents Potter and Granger. They are joining us on a trial run for this coming case." Garcia's mouth went into an 'O' shape in understanding, though Aaron could discern a hint of suspicion in her eyes. She stepped inside the door and offered her hand to the two agents, who had stood up at the same time Aaron did.</p><p>"Hi, I'm Penelope Garcia. Tech analyst and information queen extraordinaire." Granger shook her hand first, then Potter. Garcia smiled at them, obviously a little uncomfortable with the newcomers.</p><p>"Agents, are you both going to be alright using the iPads or should I get paper copies of the files for you?" Granger and Potter shook their heads.</p><p>"Whatever the team uses is fine with us," Granger said as Potter nodded alongside her. Everyone filed out of Aaron's office and followed Garcia to the conference room where the rest of the team was waiting.</p><p>"Team, meet Agents Harry Potter and Hermione Granger," Hotch said to the team. "They are on a trial run with our unit."</p><p>Prentiss and Morgan nodded, reaching over to shake hands with both Potter and Granger. Rossi and Reid both introduced themselves quickly and the group sat, Aaron indicating for Garcia to begin the briefing. The curvy redhead clicked her remote, bringing up an image of a young blonde, blue-eyed woman on the main screen. Beside her, a second image showing a bloody sand bunker from a golf course appeared.</p><p>"Attention, golf lovers all, because this case may change your minds. In the small, but affluent town of Pinehurst, North Carolina, three bodies have popped up over the last six months. The first victim, Carla Donovan, was a prostitute who died back on May 10th. She was viciously beaten and placed on the final sand bunker of Hole Two on Course One. She was alive when she was found but died from internal bleeding en route to the hospital. The sheriff department did a short investigation but found nothing." Garcia clicked her remote again. The image of a young black woman, brown-eyed and with a cascade of brown braids, appeared on the screen beside a picture of the same woman beaten, lying in white sand.</p><p>"The second victim, Taquisha Walkerton, was another prostitute killed on August 10th. Like the first victim, she was viciously beaten but this time she was killed before she was dumped on the final sand bunker of Hole Two, this time on Course Two. Here's the weird part: the ME who examined her could not find a cause of death." Morgan and Reid looked up sharply while Potter and Granger glanced at each other.</p><p>"The beating didn't kill her like the first victim," Reid asked. Garcia shook her head.</p><p>"Apparently not. The ME said that the injuries sustained by the beating would have been life-threatening, but the victim didn't lose enough blood to kill her. Now, the sheriff's department did not connect the two cases or give either case very much attention due to the nature of the victims and the fact that they were found during the highest points of golf/tourist season. This changed with the third victim, one Miss Tanya Jones." Garcia once again clicked her remoted, bringing up the image of another young black woman. She had green eyes and her black hair was pulled up in a tight bun. A second image of the woman appeared, showing her lying bloody in white sand.</p><p>"Tanya was in town for a series of meetings between her pharmaceutical company and a new drug company back in October. She was staying in a high-end hotel in Pinehurst, the Holly Inn, and disappeared two days into her weeklong series of meetings. She was last seen by a colleague She was found three days later, on October 10th. Weird, right? Just like the other two victims, she was beaten bloody and dumped on the final sand bunker of Hole Two on Course Three. Just like Taquisha, the ME said that she didn't lose enough blood to die from her beating. This was when someone in the sheriff's department put together the dots, specifically the correlation in dates, and realized that there was a serial killer on the loose. Unfortunately, the department found no forensics to help identify any suspects." Aaron looked up at the group sitting around the circular table.</p><p>"Were there any indications of sexual trauma on any of the victims," Rossi asked Garcia. At a shake from the redhead, Rossi looked over at Hotch. "The prolonged period between kills indicates that the unsub is in control of his urges, though the shortening time frame also indicates that he's devolving." Morgan took over from there.</p><p>"Even the shortened time frames demonstrate a sense of control. He's killed his first victim, then waited exactly three months to kill again. His third victim was then, to the day, killed two months later." Potter jumped in there.</p><p>"So it stands to reason that his next victim will be on the tenth of November. And since today is the seventh of November, this unsub is hunting for his next victim right now."</p><p>"Agreed. This is a time-sensitive case, so wheels up in thirty. Agent Potter, Agent Granger, do you two know where the airfield that we take off from is located?" Potter nodded affirmatively. "Good. Let's go, people."</p><p>The group of profilers stood and filed out of the room. Aaron had a bad feeling about how this case would turn out. Hopefully, the additional experience of Granger and Potter would help the team catch this killer faster than normal instead of slowing down the regular team dynamic.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>AN: Harry and Hermione have now met the team! Next time, the case really begins and there should be some more police procedural action coming. This is my first time writing a police procedural, so forgive me if I make some mistakes. I'll hopefully have another chapter within a couple weeks (I do have everything planned out, so it should go fairly quick) but I'm also doing job hunting at the same time so that could kick into high gear at any time. Ta for now!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Arrival On Scene</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The Team arrives in Pinehurst and begins the case.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Arrival On Scene</p><p>Harry grinned as he sat in the luxurious Gulfstream that the BAU used, stretching out on the leather couch.</p><p>"Now this is posh. My last job wouldn't have dreamed of springing for anything even close to this." Hermione said, sitting next to him with primly crossed legs.</p><p>"Harry, the UK is hardly large enough to warrant a private plane unless you had to frequent the Shetlands or the Hebrides. Even then, you would just take the bloody ferry. Besides, your department hardly paid for the coffee addiction that you instilled in your officers, let alone give you a private jet." Morgan stared from his seat across from Harry and Hermione.</p><p>"You got your entire department addicted to coffee?" Harry shrugged.</p><p>"Wasn't hard. When you all work seventy to ninety-hour weeks, tea only goes so far. I also bought exceptional coffee for my office, so my officers raided my coffee supply on a regular basis." Prentiss jumped into the conversation.</p><p>"What kind of coffee? I lived and worked in the UK for a while, so I know that it has to be something special to tear a group of Brits from their tea." Harry grinned at the other agent.</p><p>"Jamaica Blue Mountain. Amazing stuff, honestly, though it did sort of ruin me for cop coffee everywhere." Hermione nudged Harry and gave him a significant look. Harry raised his eyebrow at her but subsided at her glare. "Morgan, Prentiss, I want to apologize for being…. brusque earlier. I was out of line." Morgan and Prentiss blinked at the apology.</p><p>"Not a problem, man," Morgan replied. "We were both a little too quick to react this morning." Harry nodded to the large black man. Rossi spoke up from his seat beside Morgan.</p><p>"What happened this morning? Did I miss a good fight?" Hermione shook her head.</p><p>"Just two males butting heads, nothing serious." Prentiss laughed and laid a hand on Rossi's shoulder.</p><p>"Sorry, Rossi, no fighting. Derek didn't wait long enough for our new agents to identify themselves as BAU and the boys got a little heated. Nothing important." Rossi raised an eyebrow but subsided. The older man handed out folders to the team.</p><p>"Potter, Granger," Rossi said to the pair on the couch as he handed them manila folders. "We usually go over the fine details of the case on the plane, both independently and as a group, while en route to the crime scene. They contain all the information that we currently have on the case. If you have any theories or thoughts that you think are relevant, feel free to talk about them with the rest of the group. Everyone here has specialties and they may have insights that you don't. Or you may have insights that the rest of us lack." Harry and Hermione nodded, each flipping open their respective folders. As usual, Hermione devoured the entire folder in just a few minutes, flipping it shut as she finished. Harry took longer, studying each page and photo intently.</p><p>Harry raised an eyebrow as he read over the autopsy reports for the three dead women. He nudged Hermione and pointed to a line in two of the reports. She nods and gives him a significant look. Prentiss notices the look and turns to them.</p><p>"Did you notice something?" Harry looked up at her.</p><p>"I was just noting the CoD for the second and third victims. The ME calls them both 'undetermined' after noting that the blunt force trauma and blood loss they suffered was severe but not life-threatening. That seems… strange. Certainly, makes our jobs harder." Prentiss blinked and checked her own copy of the report. Sure enough, the ME in both the second and third victims had labelled the deaths as 'undetermined', though the Moore County Sheriff's department deemed them all homicides.</p><p>"It really isn't that unusual," Hotch said from his place a few seats away. "There are any number of reasons that a medical examiner would determine a death 'undetermined'." Harry looked at the older man.</p><p>"I agree. I've had dozens of 'undetermined' autopsy reports cross my desk back home. However, two 'undetermined' deaths by the same killer who beats his victims like this? That's just strange. Usually this level of beating indicates that a killer has rage issues which generally escalate into beating the victim to death, like the first victim. That kind of killer would usually never de-escalate to beating someone within an inch of their life and then stopping to kill them in a new way. Like I said, strange. But maybe it doesn't actually mean anything." Hotch and Morgan nodded, examining the reports with renewed thought.</p><p>"What is really confusing is the way the unsub is choosing his victims," Prentiss noted. She arranged the three photos of the women on the table between herself and Morgan. "His first victim was a white woman in her late twenties, the second a black woman in her early twenties, and the third another black woman in her mid-thirties. His victimology doesn't make any real sense. There isn't anything that indicates who he's looking for, even just a type that he prefers."</p><p>"That's a bad sign," Rossi piped in from his place behind Morgan. "It's easy to</p><p>"Unfortunately, none of the crime scenes were well-preserved and were obviously just dump sites. We're going to walk them anyway, but I don't expect us to find anything especially useful." Everyone nodded and went back to their reading. Hotch addressed everyone after a few minutes of silence.</p><p>"Morgan, you and Prentiss take Potter to look over the crime scenes when we get there. Everyone else, head straight to the Sheriff's Office to set up." Harry looked at Morgan and Prentiss, nodding at them in acknowledgment of the order. "Agent Granger, how would you prefer to be introduced? Agent or Doctor?" Hermione looked at the older man with a slight smile.</p><p>"Agent will be fine, sir. I have found that singling out my differences to law enforcement officers often causes more issues than I care to deal with." Hotch nodded as he went back to his own copy of the report.</p><p>Hermione strode through the front bullpen of the Moore County Sheriff's Office alongside her new boss and co-workers. It felt good to be back in the field again after years of being cooped up in an office for days on end. She helped Reid and Rossi set up the conference room while Hotch met with Sheriff. The young witch looked up as Hotch walked into the room, an older heavy-set man in a tan uniform trailing him.</p><p>"This is Sheriff Dawson. Sheriff, this is half of my team: SSA Rossi," Rossi shook hands with the other man, "Dr. Reid and Agent Granger." Hermione stood and shook hands with the Sheriff while Reid just nodded and smiled awkwardly at the man. "Sheriff, you mentioned that you thought you might have a theory as to how the unsub is possibly choosing his victims."</p><p>The sheriff had thick white hair which he ran a large hand through. He was a large man, heavy-set but still had visible muscle on his frame. Dawson stood several inches over six feet, towering over Hotch. "Well, Agent Hotchner, I believe that this man is just picking hookers to kill. Moore County is a pretty small place, so there ain't a lot of separation between rich folk and poor folk around here. Pinehurst is particularly small, and it can be occasionally difficult to distinguish a well-dressed hooker from a rich woman. Maybe the dump site is just something to throw us off his trail." Hotch's face could have been carved from stone for all the emotion that he gave off. Hermione reminded herself to never play poker with the Section Chief.</p><p>"Sheriff, thank you for your theory. We'll take that into account as we build our profile." The sheriff nodded and left the room, leaving the four agents to discuss the case. Rossi shrugged.</p><p>"The sheriff isn't wrong. It could be that this last kill was outside of his usual demographic because he made a mistake." Hermione piped up from her place at the table.</p><p>"But wouldn't that cause him to lash out sooner? If he made a mistake, his compulsion should have forced him to kill again as soon as he feasibly could." Rossi shook his head.</p><p>"Not necessarily. You're assuming that the unsub is actively following the investigation and realized that his third victim wasn't a hooker." Hermione frowned.</p><p>"Everything that we have seen in this unsub says that they are sophisticated and organized. The lack of forensic evidence, the countermeasures he's taken, the care he takes to not kill his victims while inflicting their wounds. Everything adds to someone who would keep close tabs on the investigation, so they can maintain their sense of superiority while staying ahead of law enforcement." Hotch nodded.</p><p>"True. And he held the women for three days. He would have known she wasn't his normal victim quickly. Tanya Jones was fit, well-nourished and well-put-together. If anything, she would have tried to bribe him into letting her go by offering money in return. A prostitute wouldn't have had that option. Reid." The slender man looked up at the sound of his name. "Can you see any sort of geographic commonalities that we can use to narrow the profiles?"</p><p>Reid stood up and stepped to the map that he and Hermione had pinned to the case board, looking at the available data they had marked there. He picked up a marker and made a circle on the map.</p><p>"From the data available, I can say that his hunting ground is likely inside this ten-square-mile area." Rossi grimaced.</p><p>"Ten square miles? That's a lot of ground to cover, kid." Reid shrugged, still staring at the board.</p><p>"We really only have a vague idea of where he kidnapped his victims. Presently, the only definite points which I can use to make a geographical profile are his dump sites." Rossi, Hermione, and Hotch nodded somberly while they stared at the map.</p><p>"I'm telling you, I can drive in America," Harry complained as he got out of the backseat of the black Suburban. The slim man fell into an easy walk with his co-workers, standing to their left. "I've driven in multiple countries that use both the left and right sides of the road." Prentiss laughed as they walked through a large parking lot.</p><p>"Don't worry, Potter, it isn't anything against you. Morgan just has this urge to always be the driver." Morgan rolled his eyes as he slipped on a pair of dark sunglasses.</p><p>"It's not all the time, Prentiss."</p><p>"Name one time you didn't drive when you were in the car and conscious. Just once." Morgan cocked his head to the side, thinking. His head fell slightly but said nothing while Prentiss smirked at him.</p><p>"Well, good to know that it isn't something against my own driving," Harry said, sliding on his own sunglasses while tucking his regular glasses into his inside jacket pocket. "So, what are we hear to do, precisely? I thought that the Sheriff Department had already checked over the area where she was found." The trio came to a large white building, pausing briefly as Harry held open the door for Prentiss and Morgan.</p><p>"They did, but it's important that we take a look for ourselves," Morgan replied. "We may see something important to the profile that isn't included in the report because the responding officers wouldn't have thought about it." Harry nodded as they continued to a counter manned by a young man in a bright white polo and shorts.</p><p>"Excuse me," Prentiss said to the young man, "we need a cart." The young man looked up at the trio and raised an eyebrow as he ran his eyes over them.</p><p>"I'm sorry, we have a very strict dress code here. I'm afraid you can't play in a suit, even if you could afford to pay our green fees." Prentiss' face dropped from cheerful to stony in an instant. Before she could open her mouth, Harry stepped forward as pulled out his badge.</p><p>"Lad, we're with the FBI. Cart, now." The man paled and fumbled with a cart key on the desk. He finally got a hold of it and nearly threw it at Harry. The trio walked outside and climbed into a cart, Harry behind the wheel. They rode to the Hole Two, Prentiss and Morgan holding on to their handles for dear life. They stumbled out of the cart as soon as Harry skidded to a halt.</p><p>"Never. Again." Prentiss glared at Harry's grin as she bent over the side of the cart, bracing herself with her hands on the hood. "You are never driving anything with me inside. Ever."</p><p>"Prentiss, it wasn't that bad. I always kept all four wheels on the ground and I didn't even keep the accelerator pressed down all the way. At least, not the entire time." Morgan laid down on the grass, holding a large hand over his heart.</p><p>"Potter, I used to think that Rossi drove like a maniac. You're insane. I'm with Prentiss, man, you are banned from driving." Harry laughed as he walked up to the sand bunker nearest the green.</p><p>"Just wait until we get something with power. I used to do racing on the side when I was younger." The slim man looked back and forth, peering into the small wooded areas near the green and the bunker. "Does there seem to be something odd about this place as a dump site?" Morgan groaned and stood up while Prentiss straightened to step next to Harry. They looked in the same directions as their colleague, frowning.</p><p>"Yeah," Morgan said. "This is totally exposed. To bring a body here, you'd need your own cart or be very strong to drag them all the way out here. If he came from the parking lot, which is the only place that would make sense if he had transported the body via car, he would have been exposed for dozens of yards coming out of the wooded area in Hole One. It's also too far to come from the road." Harry stepped into the bunker, sliding down the edge to the bottom.</p><p>"Hey, do either of you have a copy of the picture showing the body's original positioning?" Prentiss pulled a folded copy of the photo out of her jacket and passed it down to the English man. Harry examined it and the bunker. "The unsub just tossed her body down into the sand trap here. Look at the photo." He walked out of the shallow end of the bunker and around to where Morgan and Prentiss were standing. "The body is covered in sand, like he placed her on the ground up here and just pushed her down the slope. There're no other footprints in the sand other than the deputy who did the first pass by the body. The unsub doesn't give a damn about his victims after he's done with them." The other two agents nodded and headed back to the cart. Harry took one last look before jogging after them with a grin. They had forgotten that he still had the keys.</p><p>The three FBI agents stepped into the conference room set aside for their team several hours later, each heading for an available chair. They were each handed a Styrofoam container of Chinese food. Morgan went first as Prentiss and Harry dug into their food.</p><p>"Firstly, we decided that Potter can never drive. Ever. For anything." Hermione laughed as she passed a packet of soy sauce to Prentiss. In regard to the case, we think that this unsub is exceptionally bold based on the location that he chose to dump the bodies. And it's almost definitely a male. A female wouldn't have the upper body strength to drag the bodies all the way to the end of the second hole of each course. He also only cares about the victims while they're alive. Potter noticed that, while the unsub took great pains to come to specific places on the courses, he just tossed the bodies into the bunkers once he got there." Prentiss jumped in there.</p><p>"The unsub definitely had to come in from the parking lots. Morgan carried Harry through the woods from the road to the first course and barely made it." Harry snorted into his kung-pao chicken while Prentiss grinned at the annoyed look on Morgan's face. "He also has a definite reason for dumping the bodies on the second hole of each course. We aren't sure what that reason is yet, but it definitely has some significance to him. That'd be the only reason for him to take that much risk." Harry stepped in at that, allowing Prentiss to go back to her food.</p><p>"We checked the security cameras at the parking lot of Course Three. Surprisingly enough, they keep their footage stored on a secondary server for a month and a half, so we could access the night that Tanya Jones was dumped. Mysteriously, the cameras died for an hour that night. Only an hour and only the cameras observing the parking hot, Hole One, and Hole Two. One of the attendants at Course One did report that a cart went missing the same night as the first murder dump, but none of the management actually noticed because of the body and all that faff." He took a quick bite of food before continuing. "So, we can assume that the unsub has a golf cart and a way of getting it to and from the courses. He drives a truck or has a car capable of towing a small trailer." Rossi frowned.</p><p>"That doesn't narrow down the possibilities, kid. Reid, how many pickups are in the county?" The young genius looked at the ceiling thoughtfully.</p><p>"With a population just over 88 thousand and the pickup truck being one of the most popular trucks in the Southeastern United States…. I would estimate that there are around twenty thousand pickups in Moore County." Harry winced.</p><p>"I'm aware that it doesn't narrow it down much. But it does give us something to look for. His vehicle would be older but not vintage. It wouldn't be the nicest looking thing, but not so damaged that it would attract attention." Everyone at the table nodded in agreement. It was a valid addition to the profile. Morgan piped up one final time.</p><p>"We also think that the unsub is well-educated and able to blend in with the well-off crowd of golfers at the courses. He would be at home in the area, even if he doesn't necessarily live there." Clattering footfalls and shouting filtered into the room. Everyone looked up at the large window-walls that made up their conference room. Hotch stood up with a frown and opened the door, calling to a deputy.</p><p>"Deputy, what's happening?" The young man was wild-eyed and panicked.</p><p>"We just got a report, sir. Another woman has gone missing. The Sheriff ordered an all-hands search for her across the county." With that, the young deputy darted away. Hotch turned back to his team.</p><p>"You heard the deputy. Let's go help search." The entire team stood, nodding. No one was getting a good sleep that night.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>AN: Sorry for the cliffhanger. Well, not really. I find it fun. As always, please leave a review and let me know how I'm doing! The only way for me to grow as a writer is to get feedback from my readers! Thank you for sticking with me this far!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Profile Delievered!</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>BTW, I wanted to respond to a reviewer who mentioned something after the first 'real' chapter that I forgot to discuss in my last chapter. Merlin 2001 mentioned that British cops don't regularly carry guns. While this is true, there are specially trained Authorized Firearms Officers that carry weapons regularly. With the British magical population (and subsequent police force) being so small, I figure that the regular police would double as Authorized Firearms Officers as well. That's my take, anyway, and Harry has to carry a gun with the FBI anyway. Either way, on to the story!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The Profile Delivered!</p><p>A man stood in the shadows of an alley as police vehicles flew past, their lights screaming shrilly into the night air. He calmly opened the lid of the dumpster that he was standing next to and heaved a full trash bag into it. A smirk ghosted across his face, missed by everyone.</p><p>'These stupid cops. They'll never find me.' A chuckle escaped his lips as he turned around and walked out of the alley. 'No one will ever find me.'</p><p>'THUD'. Hermione jumped at the loud sound coming from beside her, glaring at the cause.</p><p>"Harry, stop it. All that's going to do is break your hand again." Harry rolled his eyes but complied with the request to stop beating the table. He and Hermione were alone in the conference room of the Sheriff's department. The team had spent most of the night searching for the missing woman with the Moore County Sheriff Department. The two British magicals were the first ones back from the hotel.</p><p>"Sorry, 'Mione, but it's frustrating the bloody hell out of me. We know how he's doing the killing, we just can't tell anyone else on the team. But that's the only thing that makes any bloody sense here." Hermione leaned back in her chair, regarding her dark-haired friend.</p><p>"Alright, let's walk through what we know." Harry nodded and cleared a section of the table. The pair spread out the case files on the cleared section.</p><p>"Fact: He's killed three women and kidnapped a fourth over the past six months. Fact: He's killed two of the three women using a Killing Curse. Fact: He's going to extreme lengths to dump the bodies in a public place where they would be found quickly. Fact: He has left little to no evidence for mundane police and very little evidence of magic." Hermione hummed thoughtfully.</p><p>"Why women in particular? We know it isn't sexual, none of the women showed any signs of sexual assault." Harry started pacing along the edge of the table.</p><p>"Unknown. He is obviously antagonistic against women, as evidenced by the sheer amount of violence committed against the victims. And it's worth it to note that the beating was done by hand, not with a spell." Hermione nodded, examining the autopsy photos. "But here is where we run into the first major inconsistency. Why beat them like this? If he's a wizard, there are dozens of better ways to inflict torture than physical beatings. But this unsub took the time to beat them with a physical rod and then spelled them clean to take away forensic evidence." Hermione frowned at that.</p><p>"How did you come to that conclusion?" Harry pulled out the autopsy reports and laid them side-by-side in front of the brunette.</p><p>"Because the bodies were too clean. Except for the bunker sand, there was literally zero debris on them. No blood, fluids, not even their own sweat. You've been tortured and seen others who have been tortured. No one lasts for days being beaten without at least sweating or soiling themselves." Hermione stared at the reports but nodded. She looked up sharply.</p><p>"Is there any way for us to check magical signatures on the bodies?" Her face fell at a shake of Harry's head.</p><p>"Not after so long. The only way we'd be able to do that is if we found a fresh vic. Magical signatures degrade quickly except in extreme cases. We might find a fragment of a signature from the Killing Curse but even that's not guaranteed after a couple weeks in the ground. That's not even taking into account the possibility that one of the deputies here or an EMT is magical, which would interact with the signature and muddle it up."</p><p>"Damn. Thought that might work. I remember one of the journal articles you wrote for Magical Forensics talking about using magical signatures to identify killers but I couldn't remember the exact details." Harry chuckled as he stared at the assorted material.</p><p>"Don't worry about it. I'm kind of surprised that you even read that article. Magical Forensics wasn't exactly the top of your reading list back home. Besides, even if we had a signature, it wouldn't do any good without something to compare it to." The pair of magicals looked up as the door to the conference room swung open, admitting the other five members of the team. The team paused, looking at the pair with confused expressions.</p><p>"Potter, Granger," asked Hotch, "when did you two get here?" Hermione shrugged.</p><p>"Around an hour ago, I reckon. Why?" Prentiss moved to an open chair across from Hermione.</p><p>"We weren't sure where you two were. The desk said you both left early but none of the SUVs were missing." Harry snorted.</p><p>"Aye, because Morgan won't let me near a set of keys after yesterday afternoon. We called a taxi to take us to the station this morning. Reckoned that we'd let you lot sleep a bit more." Hotch frowned at them.</p><p>"You don't have to do that. We work as a team. You could have just waited." Harry shrugged.</p><p>"Neither of us are used to sleeping more than about four hours a night. Too many years of juggling too many hats, I figure. Oh, that reminds me." Harry dug out a notebook from underneath the spread-out files. "We think that the unsub has to be a native of the area, probably working somewhere in the public." Rossi perked up at that.</p><p>"Why?"</p><p>"Several reasons. First, his killing pattern. Even though the first and second kills happened during the high tourist season, the last kill and this newest disappearance are definitely outside of the seasonal period. Secondly, his knowledge of the area. This guy knew the courses better than someone who comes in a couple of times a year to golf. He knew where the cameras were and figured out some way of killing them efficiently without leaving any evidence. That's long-term planning that would require him to be around often without arousing any suspicion." Hermione picked up from there.</p><p>"Third, the varied socioeconomic status of his victims. He would have met them somewhere that it wouldn't have been unusual to see both rich and poor women at the same time. That eliminates the unsub having a job at one of the courses, such as a groundskeeper, as well as eliminating the Sheriff's officers." Hotch spoke up at that point.</p><p>"Don't be too quick to eliminate the officers. The unsub has a lot of knowledge of eliminating his tracks, which could indicate an officer or former officer." Hermione nodded.</p><p>"That's true. However, while that could explain his interactions with Carla Donovan and Taquisha Walkerton, it doesn't explain the interaction with Tanya Jones or the new victim, Alice McDonald. Jones and McDonald were both visitors who would have had no interaction with police." Morgan leaned forward at this point.</p><p>"They could have been stopped for speeding or an imagined offense by an officer, taken that way." Spencer joined the conversation.</p><p>"But how would they have been targeted by an officer? Besides the fact that an officer would have known that the FBI is here. It would be illogical to abduct another woman while knowing that the FBI is actively investigating." Hotch slowly nodded.</p><p>"Alright. We eliminate the officers, tentatively. What does that leave us?" Harry flipped his notebook to another page.</p><p>"I reckon he has to be between 25 and 40, average-sized. He's young enough to haul around bodies and beat the women for days, but old enough to not be completely impulsive. He's average-sized because he doesn't raise alarms or stick out in anyone's mind. A large person automatically puts people on guard and a smaller person stands out." Reid nodded.</p><p>"Height is one of the most pervasive influences on how people perceive others. Taller people are often considered to be more attractive and better overall, often because there is an innate feeling that taller is better. They stand out because our instincts recognize taller people as either a threat or a protector. Smaller people, on the other hand, are less threatening. However, men who are smaller tend to act in ways to stand out or in aggressive manners, often referred to as a Napoleon Complex." Harry pointed to Reid.</p><p>"What he said." Hermione piped back in.</p><p>"Is there a way that we can verify what the victims were doing before they were kidnapped? Some way of tracking them?" Harry perked up, looking hopefully at Hotch.</p><p>"Back in the UK, we could use the local CCTV cameras to track their movements. Can we access them here?" His face fell at the look on Hotch's face.</p><p>"Unfortunately," Hotch answered, "a small county like Moore doesn't have CCTV cameras. The US doesn't require their installation and only a few states have moved to installing large numbers of them." Morgan perked up.</p><p>"But maybe there is a way of tracking them anyway!" He slipped his phone from his belt and selected a contact, placing the phone on speaker while setting on the table. A female voice filtered through the smartphone.</p><p>"Your beautiful goddess awaits, speak and be recognized." Harry and Hermione raised simultaneous eyebrows at that. Morgan grinned.</p><p>"Baby girl, we got a question for you. We need to track the victims on the days that they disappeared, including the latest victim. Is there a way we can do that using their phones?"</p><p>"Oh, honey. That shouldn't even be a question. Of course, I can track their phones. As long as they had phones that support that sort of feature…"</p><p>"Garcia, I've sent you the numbers for the four phones. See what you can find out," Hotch ordered.</p><p>"Yes, sir." Harry leaned forward suddenly.</p><p>"Can you remotely turn on Alice McDonald's phone?" He looked up at the curious looks around the table. "What? It's worth asking the question, innit? If she can't, we're no worse off than before. If she can, we can get the GPS information off it and hope that the unsub took the phone when he took her." Looks of understanding dawned across everyone else faces. The voice of a confused Garcia came back over the line.</p><p>"Who's asking?" Harry looked back at the phone.</p><p>"Agent Harry Potter. I'm new to the team."</p><p>"Ah. Ok. Umm, I can't really turn on someone's phone like that. That's not how phones work. Besides, even if I could, I would need a FISA warrant before I can even begin to do something like that." Harry sat back in his chair, visibly disappointed. "However, I might be able to turn on her microphone!" The entire room sat up straighter and their eyes locked on the small phone in the center of the table.</p><p>"Garcia," Hotch said, an undercurrent of controlled excitement in his voice. "Explain. You said you couldn't turn on someone's phone."</p><p>Penelope Garcia stared fixedly at her various screens, typing furiously. She was mumbling to herself as she flicked her eyes between the numerous screens that dominated her workspace.</p><p>"Mister Mysterious British Man, you might be a genius." A snicker came over the phone line but not a snicker that Penelope recognized. "I can't turn on someone's phone if it's been turned off, that's a physical impossibility unless you install malware into the rootkit of the phone's operating system. To do that, I would need physical access to the phone itself or for the owner to open an app with the malware. However, smartphones function using two computers inside them. The first one runs the OS, the screen, things that you can see. However, the second computer system is called a 'baseband' system and that is the part that communicates with the cell towers and functions as an actual phone. The baseband system controls the microphones in the phone and I should be able to get into that once I know the model of her phone. Which I now know thanks to her social media pages."</p><p>"Baby girl," Derek's smooth voice said over the phone, "you are amazing." Penelope smiled.</p><p>"Of course, honey. Sir, I'll send you a list of GPS locations from the days that the three victims disappeared. Once that's compiled, I can write a program to alert me if someone begins talking in the range of Alice McDonald's phone."</p><p>"Do that," Hotch said. "Good work, Garcia." Penelope's smile widened as she hit the disconnect button on her desk phone.</p><p>The team leaned back into their chairs and regarded one another.</p><p>"Are we ready to give a profile?" Hotch said, sweeping his eyes across his team. Morgan looked around the table and nodded. "Then it's time to gather the department."</p><p>The full force of the Moore County Sheriffs Department sat, lounged, or stood where they could in the cramped bullpen. Harry flicked his emerald eyes across the faces of the deputies which were arrayed in front of him.</p><p>"I'm sort of hoping none of these men run into our suspect," the dark-haired man whispered to his closest friend. "Whoever the unsub is, he's a fairly powerful and subtle wizard." Hermione nodded her head slightly in agreement.</p><p>"Definitely a mundane-born or half-blood. Most purebloods wouldn't be able to blend in like this. I verified at the morgue last night, the last victim had no strange objects or sticks found with their body. Definitely mundane. A pureblood wouldn't have 'dirtied' their hands by beating a mundane victim physically without leaving some sort of mark. They would want to inspire terror, not confusion." Harry snorted.</p><p>"Purebloods also aren't the most restrained individuals, in my personal experience. They wouldn't have waited three months between the first victims when it didn't create a major ruckus." Hotch cleared his throat and glanced at the whispering pair. Harry nodded and stepped slightly away from his brunette partner, directing his eyes to the room once again.</p><p>"We are ready to give you a preliminary profile based on the factors that we have concluded. Usually, this would take a few more days and our profile is going to be very broad because of the time crunch. Based on the other three victims, we only have a couple of days before the unsub kills Alice McDonald and dumps her body." Morgan stepped in.</p><p>"The unsub is a white male between the age of twenty-five to forty. He'll be average build, average height, completely unremarkable in every way. This is both his weapon and his greatest hatred." One of the deputies snorted.</p><p>"So we're looking for an average person? How is that helpful?" Reid stepped in.</p><p>"It's not just an average person. This unsub will be the definition of average in almost every way. So we can count out anyone above five-ten and under five-seven. Statistically, around sixty-eight percent of American men fall into this category. While that's a large number, it's still eliminating about a third of the potential suspects." Rossi picked up the briefing.</p><p>"The unsub is smart, exceptionally so. He'll be vaguely memorable to women, but he won't stick out. He isn't the 'creepy' stereotype, just the opposite. This unsub managed to isolate and lure away four women of varying descriptions and socioeconomic statuses, so he's charming and nonthreatening." Harry stepped up from there.</p><p>"We also believe that the unsub works in some sort of customer-facing job. That would seem to be the best explanation for how he found his victims regardless of their economic statuses. We're going to be concentrating on boutiques and consignment stores, places that are popular spots for women of all ages and statuses." The Sheriff stepped forward to address the room.</p><p>"Alright. Meet with your sergeants to find out your patrol locations." The BAU team stepped away from the Sheriff, moving back to the conference room they had taken over. Morgan placed his phone on the table.</p><p>"Baby girl, you're on speaker."</p><p>"Alright, so I did some digging into the GPS histories on the previous victims' phones. Luckily, all three women were majorly into the location check-in app Foursquare. These women checked in every single place they went from breakfast to bed." Hotch looked at the phone.</p><p>"What about the newest victim?"</p><p>"Unfortunately, she was not into FourSquare. I can track her movements but because coverage is relatively sparse in the Pinehurst area, I'm not having a lot of luck with getting precise locations for her last movements."</p><p>"What were the common locations, Garcia," Hotch asked. The team heard furious typing over the handset.</p><p>"Only three locations were common to all three previous women. And two of the three locations coincide with GPS locations I pulled from Alice McDonald's phone. They all visited a place called the Bargain Barn and a shop called Cris &amp; Florrie's Boutique in Southern Pines, the next town over." Morgan grinned at the phone.</p><p>"Great job, baby girl. Send us the addresses."</p><p>"Already on your phones, Chocolate Thunder." Morgan's grin widened.</p><p>"You're the best, baby girl. Later." Hotch looked at his team.</p><p>"Morgan, take Prentiss and Potter with you to the Bargain Barn. Rossi, Granger, Reid and myself will go to the Boutique. I'll let the Sheriff know about Garcia's discovery on the way out. We don't have a lot of time left, people, so be thorough and be fast." Everyone nodded and began moving towards the doors.</p><p>Hermione and Harry exchanged looks as they exited the pair separated, each had to ensure that the Statute was upheld while taking down this magical unsub. Hotch was a wizard, but he hadn't seen magical combat like the two British ex-pats. This could get dangerous very quickly.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>AN: I know that this chapter was a lot of exposition and dialogue. I wanted to get the profile delivered and show Harry and Hermione being more than just 'magic-users'. In my canon, they are just as qualified to be profilers as anyone else on the team. They just have an additional knowledge set that the others don't.</p><p>I hope that you enjoyed this chapter! Please leave a review, it really does help me bring these out faster!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Confrontations</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Chapter Four Confrontations<br/>A man sat watching the news, his eyes glued to the screen and a bottle of whiskey beside him. A dark-haired woman was standing in front of the sheriff's department, staring into the camera as people came and went behind her.</p><p>"Authorities are still baffled about who committed these heinous crimes. According to unnamed sources in the department, there are few leads to be had at this point in time. The sheriff's department has called in a special FBI unit known as the Behavior Analysis Unit to assist them in catching this serial killer. When will we be safe again? This reporter hopes it will be soon. Back to you in the studio, Jackie."</p><p>A muffled scream sounded from the floorboards under his feet. Deep chuckling coming from the man drowned out the muffled sound. He leaned back in his chair, raising his bottle.</p><p>"To the perfect crime. I'll be the true Moriarity of the South!"</p><p>Hermione sat in the back of the black SUV, her body utterly still while her eyes remained locked forward.</p><p>"Are you ok?" Spencer inquired, touching her shoulder.</p><p>Hermione twitched at his touch, though she stopped herself from drawing her wand or gun. "I'm fine, Dr. Reid, really. Just trying to center myself," she said, smiling gently at the slim man. "It's been a few years since I've seen very much action."</p><p>Spencer gave her a startled look. "I thought that you were a prosecutor in the UK?"</p><p>"Doesn't mean that I didn't have an interesting life prior to becoming a prosecutor," Hermione said with a forced laugh. "Don't worry, Dr. Reid. I'm fine, just trying to get into a good headspace."</p><p>Spencer glanced forward and met Rossi's eyes, who had half-turned towards him from the front passenger seat. The elder agent quirked his eyebrow before turning a little further to meet Hermione's eyes.</p><p>"Granger, don't think of this as us going into action. We honestly try to avoid engaging suspects when possible, we'd rather talk them down and bring them in alive. That's pretty important to this unit, ok?"</p><p>Hermione nodded. "I have a particular preference to not kill people. Unfortunately, it's often unavoidable."</p><p>Aaron spoke up from the driver's seat, eyes firmly on the road. "Dr. Granger, how was your firing range score?"</p><p>"I passed just shy of the Instructor qualification," Hermione stated, shrugging. "I'm a good enough shot for field work."</p><p>"Good." Aaron brought the SUV to a stop, signaling everyone else to get out. "In that case, you'll go with Rossi. Reid and I will stay with the SUV and keep an eye out here."</p><p>Hermione and Rossi went into the store, eyes sweeping across the customers and staff. Trinkets and cute items littered the store, covering every shelf. There were customers scattered about, perusing the various shelves and cases, while three staff members stood around the store waiting to help. Hermione spied the employee who seemed to have the most attachments on their name badge and made a beeline for them.</p><p>"Pardon me, Christie? I was wondering if we might talk to you for a moment," Hermione asked the young woman. The woman was short with dark hair and wore heavy makeup, several silver piercing scattered around her face. She looked over at Hermione and Rossi, green eyes flicking between the two agents.</p><p>"What do you want," the woman sighed. "Y'all lookin' for, like, shit for a baby room or somethin'?"</p><p>Hermione, mouth open to ask a question, blinked. "What? No, I have questions about your coworkers." The young woman shrugged, leaning against the counter.</p><p>"Whatcha wanna know? Most of the girls workin' here are pretty normal, mostly. Ain't nobody that would get no attention from the government."</p><p>Rossi stepped up next to Hermione. "We're actually looking for a male coworker. The guy we're looking for is someone who wouldn't necessarily stand out. They wouldn't make anyone uncomfortable or cause complaints. If anything, women would like him and find him charming."</p><p>Christie stared at the pair, slowly chewing on a piece of gum. "There's only a couple of guys who work here, Billy and Jack. Jack's kinda weird, but he's harmless. Mostly keeps to himself, lives back in the middle of nowhere. He talks to just about everyone, though, and most everybody likes him."</p><p>Hermione nodded, taking notes in a small black notebook. "What about Billy?"</p><p>"Now Billy, he's a charmer. He's only been here a few months, but just about every woman who comes in here loves him. He's a big draw for them rich tourist types, he can talk real fancy like them."</p><p>"You wouldn't have their addresses, would you? Or somewhere that they would regularly hang out?" Rossi pressed the young woman, eyes searching for any signs of falsehood. The young woman shrugged.</p><p>"I'm sure I've got their addresses in the back with their paperwork. Give me a minute." With that, Christie disappeared into the back of the store, leaving Rossi and Granger standing alone by the counter.</p><p>"You know," Granger drawled, "I have this strange feeling of being watched…"</p><p>Rossi nodded, eyes scanning the store's interior. "I feel it, too. I'm impressed that you caught it, kid. Most agents take a few years in the field to develop that."</p><p>Hermione gave a thin-lipped smile. "I've had some field experience before. This isn't my first rodeo, as you Yanks say."</p><p>Rossi looked over at the younger agent, fully taking her in for the first time. To a casual observer, the young woman was fairly relaxed, leaning against the counter and checking out the items on a nearby shelf. Rossi knew better, noting that the young woman stood stock-still yet not out of fear or discomfort. She looked like a cat ready to pounce, her chocolate-brown eyes continually sweeping the room and briefly lingering on the exits before continuing to rove around. Rossi grinned.</p><p>"I can tell. Most of the time, agents have to get into some unpleasant situations to pick up those instincts. Care to share some of those old rodeo stories?"</p><p>Hermione opened her mouth, but closed it when she saw Christie come back out with a piece of paper.</p><p>"Here. These are their addresses we have on file. Ain't neither of them supposed to work today, so they might be home."</p><p>Hermione took the page and thanked the woman. Rossi nodded and walked out of the shop, flipping his phone open to dial Garcia. Once the pair was out of the shop and rejoined by Hotchner and Reid, Rossi put the tech genius on speakerphone.</p><p>"Garcia, we have two names for you to run. Jack Klinege and William James." The team heard furious typing over the phone's speaker.</p><p>"At once, sir. Alright, first up is Jack Klinege. He is forty-five, lives just outside of the Aberdeen city limits around twenty minutes from where you are. Grew up two counties over, neither parent had much of an education, he barely graduated high school. Served in Desert Storm in the Army, honorable discharge, single, never married. This job seems to be the only one he's ever held long term outside of the Army. According to his tax records, he's been working for Cris and Flores for the last fifteen years. No priors, nothing in social media."</p><p>Rossi raised an eyebrow. "Nothing in social media? I thought everyone had at least a Facebook at this point."</p><p>"Nothing, sir. He really doesn't leave much of a digital footprint. Just kind of spends time by himself out in the woods, only comes in for work."</p><p>Hermione frowned and glanced up at Hotchner. This was sounding like a wizard, living off the grid and only coming for basic supplies. Many magicals with Mundane ties ended up going into the military if they weren't able to get a magical job.</p><p>"What about the other guy? William James?"</p><p>Garcia grinned, eyes locked on her screens as she typed. "Oh, he's a much more interesting guy. Grew up in the area, went off to school up in the Northeast on scholarship. Dad had a bunch of charges for drunk and disorderly, assault, some domestic violence, mostly against William. Mom was arrested several times for possession and solicitation, dying in 1992 from an OD. After graduating with top grades from high school, he went to college, again on scholarship. He graduated summa cum latte from the WVU with dual degrees in hotel management and business administration. He got married to a fellow WVU classmate and ran the Carolina Hotel as the head manager for the last ten years until they fired him seven months ago."</p><p>Hotch's eyes snapped to the phone. "Why was he fired?"</p><p>The team could hear Garcia tapping furiously on the keyboard. "He… wow. He beat the crap out of a guy who was staying there and had criminal charges brought against him. The case file is sealed, though, so it'll take a while to get into it."</p><p>"Alright, Garcia. Do what you can. Send the addresses to our phones." Hotchner hung up the phone. "Alright, we need to divide this out. Rossi, you and Granger will go to see William James. Reid and I will talk to Jack Klinge."</p><p>Everyone nodded and piled into the SUV. They would need to go back to the station and grab another, but it was on the way to both homes. Hermione could feel that something was wrong, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it.</p><p>#</p><p>Hermione glanced over at Rossi from the passenger seat. The older man was relaxed, befitting someone with decades of experience with the worst serial killers the US had to offer. Hermione still couldn't quite believe that she was working with one of the best authors and agents that she had ever seen.</p><p>"What's on your mind, kid?"</p><p>Hermione flushed, embarrassed that he caught her staring. "I'm so sorry. I was just thinking about how relaxed you seem. I can't seem to sit still."</p><p>"Well, that's experience," Rossi said with a chuckle. "I've done a million of these and plan to do a million more before I'm gone. Getting worked up every time doesn't help." The older agent glanced over at Hermione, squinting his eyes a little. "Weren't you involved in some action back home? I remember your personnel jacket having a commendation for something redacted from the Queen. It was dated back when you would have been pretty young. If I remember right, Potter had a similar note." Rossi noticed Hermione sat up a little stiffer.</p><p>"I'm not at liberty to speak to that, sir."</p><p>"I have just about the highest clearance you're gonna find here at the Bureau. What sort of action could you have gotten involved in as a teen that has that kind of secrecy?"</p><p>Hermione breathed a sigh of relief as they pulled up at the suspect's house. "We're here, Rossi. Let's go talk with this guy."</p><p>As the pair walked up to the door of the house, the uneasy feeling in Hermione's gut continued to churn. Rossi knocked on the door, calling out to the resident.</p><p>"William James? We'd like to talk with you!"</p><p>Hermione looked through the front windows, the uncomfortable feeling intensifying. "Rossi, I really don't have a great feeling about this place…" As she was speaking, the door opened. A slim man with sandy blonde hair stood in the doorway, looking curiously at Rossi and Hermione.</p><p>"Yes? Who are you?"</p><p>Rossi smiled at the man, taking out his badge. "FBI, Mr. James. We just had a few questions that we wanted to ask you." Rossi looked back at her just as the door opened, revealing a slim man with sandy blonde hair and brown eyes.</p><p>James looked between Rossi and Hermione, a flash of… something behind his eyes. The flash went away, leaving a simple curiosity. James motioned for the two agents to step inside.</p><p>"Of course, anything I can do for the FBI." James stepped back in the house, calling over his shoulder as he walked into the kitchen. "Would you two like some tea or something? I think I've got a platter of cookies in here somewhere."</p><p>"No, we're fine," Rossi called out as the agents stepped inside. "We just have a few questions and we can get out of your hair."</p><p>Hermione wandered around the room that they had entered, looking at some of the books on the shelves. The uneasy feeling in her gut kept churning, but she couldn't quite put a finger on what was wrong. Her eyes skimmed the books, noting the titles.</p><p>'A Guide to Physics', 'Saucy Tricks for Saucy Sorts', 'Five Star Crisis Management', 'Charm Your Bakes', 'International Journal of Hospitality management', 'Achievements in Charming'. She stopped at the last one, her eyes going wide. Hermione whirled around, mouth open to shout to Rossi when she saw him standing with his gun out and pointed at her head. A voice came from behind the older agent.</p><p>"Welcome to my parlor, said the spider to the fly." James stepped out from behind the older agent, a slightly unhinged grin on his face.</p><p>#</p><p>A black SUV pulled up in front of a slightly run-down store emblazoned with the phrase 'Bargain Barn' in peeling red paint. Harry glanced up and down the street, taking in several tourists and locals wandering in and out of nearby shops. He snapped his eyes forwards to see Morgan and Prentiss motioning him across.</p><p>"I'm coming." The three agents stepped into the store, the cold AC causing a slight shiver from Harry and Prentiss. Morgan gestured towards the only employee in the store.</p><p>A young black man stood in the store. He looked up briefly at the three agents, then went back to staring at a magazine, speaking in a bored tone. "Welcome to Bargain Barn, where everything is a bargain."</p><p>Morgan walked over to the man, flanked by Harry and Prentiss. "Hey, wanted to ask you some questions, my man." All three agents showed their badges to the young man, who straightened slightly. "We're looking for any employees you've noticed who were paying particular attention to some women who have passed through here."</p><p>"I can't tell you much. There's only a couple of us who work here, we mostly work solo shifts nowadays."</p><p>"This man wouldn't have stood out, he would have been pretty average in every measurable way," Prentiss said, stepping in. "Women would have liked him, but wouldn't necessarily remember him for long beyond a vague memory."</p><p>The younger man frowned, thinking. "Well, I know that the ladies seem to like Paul. He's pretty vanilla, if you know what I mean, so maybe?"</p><p>"Have you seen this woman?" Harry held up a photo of the latest victim. "She would have been in here at some point in the last two days."</p><p>The young man leaned forward, staring at the photo. The agents could practically hear the gears gradually shifting in his mind, trying to place the woman. "I think I saw her… Yeah! She was in here the day before yesterday during the morning shift. Only reason I remember is that she dropped a bunch of money on these really tacky white and blue china sets. She cleaned us out, spent almost four hundred bucks. She left here with them around noon?"</p><p>Harry caught Morgan's eye and motioned for him to step away for a moment. "Morgan, I don't think this is our guy. He's too… memorable."</p><p>Morgan looked back at the employee. He was around six feet tall, built like a stick. His hair was braided in cornrows and he had a gaudy eyebrow ring and nose ring. Morgan winced, nodding. "Agreed. He's definitely one that would stand out. Besides, his timeline matches up. If she left here around noon, she wasn't snatched from here. She met with her friend for lunch at 12:30, so she obviously made it away from here."</p><p>"Damn, I was hoping this was the guy. Hopefully Hotch had more luck."</p><p>Harry nodded, motioning for Prentiss to finish up. "Honestly, I'm sort of relieved we didn't run into the guy and have a massive gunfight. My luck tends towards the chaotic and that wouldn't be outside of the realm of possibility for it." The wizard pulled out his own phone to call his partner as the agents stepped outside. He blinked as his call went to Hermione's voicemail after a few rings. "That's weird."</p><p>"What?" Morgan asked.</p><p>"Hermione isn't answering. That's not like her. And it's not like she turned off her phone like she would if she thought they were going into a fight. Her phone is ringing, she's just not answering."</p><p>Morgan shrugged. "Maybe she put it on silent for an interview? It can be a lot of reasons, man. It could be a bad signal. You heard Garcia, this place doesn't exactly have great reception."</p><p>"Perhaps," Harry sighed. "Let's head back to the station."</p><p>The agents piled back into the SUV, heading back to the sheriff's office. Harry couldn't quite shake the bad feeling in his gut. Something had gone horribly wrong. He just didn't quite know what it was yet…</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Captured</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Captured!<br/>Harry stared out of the window as the SUV drove back to the Sheriff's office. Trees passed by the window as Morgan and Prentiss passed the time chatting about various weekend plans. Harry heard Morgan's phone ring, ignoring the playful banter between the large agent and the tech analyst. The dark-haired wizard perked up as the analyst mentioned something about Hermione's team finding a lead.</p><p>"Hotch wants you three to go talk to where Rossi's suspect worked before the boutique. Some swanky place called The Carolina Hotel. I just sent the address to your phones."</p><p>Harry spoke, just catching Garcia before she hung up. "Garcia, why did this guy leave the Carolina Hotel? Was he fired or did he just decide on a career change?"</p><p>"Oh, he was super fired. Like, restraining order from the hotel and several members of staff, super fired."</p><p>Morgan glanced down at the phone. "The hell did this cat do?"</p><p>"He beat the crap out of a guest, apparently. Put the dude in the hospital for a while. There's a sealed case file I'm still trying to get into it to get the details. I'll hit you back when I get some juicy deets!"</p><p>Harry went back to staring out of the window, turning over the case in his head. He knew that there was a magical element, he just couldn't quite pin down what that element was.</p><p>Harry had reached out to some contacts in the Department of Magical Affairs to find the local magical areas near the small golfing town before the team left DC. From what he understood, the closest place with a large magical population was in a city called Charlotte about two hours west. That didn't mean that there weren't wizards in Pinehurst, but it would make it difficult to find this unsub. Magicals who lived off-grid, magically speaking, tended to be amazing at hiding; even more so if they had experience in the Muggle world.</p><p>After a few minutes, Morgan, Prentiss, and Harry entered the lobby of the Carolina Hotel. The lavish nature of the hotel was clear from the many pillars that lined the front drive and the immaculate landscaping dotting the property. As the agents made their way into the classy hotel, a man in an expensive five-piece suit hurried up to them.</p><p>"Sirs, ma'am, I am the Head Manager for this establishment. What can the Carolina Hotel do for the FBI today?" The man had a very sophisticated Deep South accent that was at odds with his slightly squeaky voice.</p><p>Morgan and Prentiss exchanged looks with each other, confusion written on their faces. Harry narrowed his eyes, noting the slight bulge on the sleeve of the man's suit.</p><p>"Mr. Tavish, we would like to talk to you about a former employee of yours. I would assume that you'd like to have this conversation somewhere more… private?"</p><p>Tavish glanced over the agents with a thin smile, his beady eyes darting around the lobby to take in the curious eyes of the patrons. The reedy man gave a tense nod and motioned for the three agents to follow him.</p><p>Tavish showed them to a small office just off the main lobby, gently closing the door. "Agents, this hotel is… unused to having our guests being disturbed in this manner. If you could tell me who you are looking for, I can… expedite your search in a manner acceptable to all parties involved."</p><p>Morgan and Prentiss exchanged looks with Harry. The wizard motioned for Prentiss to ask the questions while Morgan and Harry kept their eyes on the manager.</p><p>"We'd like to learn a little more about a former employee of yours, William James?" Harry noted that the manager's body became tenser at the mention of James' name. That set off major red flags, as a manager of a place like the Carolina would usually look relieved that the FBI wanted to talk about a former employee and not one of their current guests. Harry narrowed his eyes at the manager as he stammered and tripped over his words. Prentiss pressed the manager. "What's the problem, Mr. Tavish?"</p><p>"As per company policy, I'm not really allowed to talk about former employees…" Tavish swallowed hard as Harry and Morgan stared him down. "However…. I may be able to give you some information."</p><p>"What did Mr. James do for the Carolina Hotel?"</p><p>"Mr. James previously held my position, for several years in fact. He was, by most, considered an exceptional employer. Mr. James was bright, driven, organized, and diligent. It really was a shame, the circumstances that surrounded his departure from the Carolina…"</p><p>Much like the British, Southern Americans apparently had a gift for understatement. "We know he left under criminal circumstances. Care to clear up what those circumstances were?"</p><p>Tavish pulled a cotton handkerchief out of his pocket and gently mopped his shining brow. "It was really very shameful. Mr. James had this wife, you see. She was from one of Pinehurst's most prominent families, an incredibly good family. They partially own the Carolina, in fact. The two of them apparently went to school together, that's where they met. Mrs. James was very much the social butterfly, went to all kinds of parties and functions while Mr. James ran the hotel. From all appearances, they were a perfectly good couple."</p><p>Prentiss motioned for Tavish to continue. "I've seen 'perfectly good' couples explode fairly violently in the past. What was the trigger?"</p><p>"Mrs. James, it seems, was having certain… discrete dalliances here at the hotel for a number of years. Apparently, one of those dalliances became less… than discrete." The disgust for the lack of discretion was clear on the manager's face. "Mr. James was on duty at the time and went to the room to respond to a noise complaint from a neighboring room. He discovered his wife and her lover in bed together." The reedy man leaned forward to speak almost conspiratorially. "From what I heard about the encounter, Mrs. James' lover was her best friend from childhood who had gone to school with her and Mr. James."</p><p>"I can see why he would have beaten the guy," Morgan said. "Your best friend having an affair with your wife in your own hotel? That's ice cold."</p><p>"I'm afraid that it was a little more violent than just beating the gentleman caller. He also dragged his wife out of bed and out into the lobby of the hotel. Mr. James called her out for her dalliances, in great detail, in front of our guests and threw her out of the hotel while she was in naught but her skin and a bedsheet. Her parents were less than thrilled about the spectacle, as were the parents of her lover who are also a very prominent family in this county."</p><p>"So, he lost his job, and the family blackballed from any other hotel career?" Harry rubbed his faded scar, a habit that persisted from his younger years.</p><p>"Yes. It was really a shame. He was a wonderful manager and had a bright future. But after his actions, it was really the only thing to do."</p><p>The three agents stood and thanked the manager, filing out of the door. As he went to leave, Harry stumbled beside the manager, catching himself on the other man's shoulder.</p><p>"You know who I am," Harry hissed quietly in Tavish's ear. The pale manager somehow paled even further. "How involved in James in the local magic community? Would he hide in the community now that he knows the FBI is here?"</p><p>"He hates the community! His wife's family has completely blocked him out of everything!" The manager's eyes were wild as he frantically waved his hands. "He wouldn't have hidden anywhere near the local community!"</p><p>Harry gave Tavish a hard glare, his green eyes glowing in an intimidating manner. The wizarding cop resisted the familiar urge to slip into the reedy manager's mind to verify his claims. Harry knew that America had much stricter laws concerning the usage of Legilimency by anyone and even stricter rules for federal agents.</p><p>William James' House</p><p>"I never would have guessed the FBI would send a witch. It never even occurred to me that the FBI would employ magicals, let alone someone as recognizable as THE Hermione Granger. What's next, Harry fucking Potter breaks down my door?" James craned his neck out from around Rossi to stare at Hermione. "Take out your gun and set it down on the table, if you please, Agent Granger."</p><p>Hermione kept her hands out and in clear sight. She slowly reached over to her Webley and pulled it out, using her index finger and thumb to do so. She gently set the heavy revolver down on the table before Rossi roughly grabbed her by the upper arm.</p><p>"What about your wand? I'm familiar with your work, you're a lot more dangerous with a wand than with a gun."</p><p>"I'm not allowed a wand while working for the FBI," Hermione said. "You Americans don't have a magical branch of the FBI, so I have to hide my powers." There was just enough scorn in her tone to make herself believable.</p><p>"Sucks to be you, then. A witch isn't much good without a wand, is she? Well, come on then, Agent Granger. Come see the perfect operation I have going on here!" James flicked his wand at the floor, vanishing a segment of hardwood to reveal an opening. Rossi dragged Hermione down into the opening, James following close behind with a maniacal grin.</p><p>The room below the house was significantly larger than the room above it, obviously enlarged through magic. There were racks of tools and other blunt objects lining one wall while another wall held bladed instruments.</p><p>A chair with chains attached was sitting in the center of the room. It had ominous stains littering the wooden seat, dark in the dim light of the basement. Similar dark stains covered the ground under and around the chair, spread out in splatter and spray patterns. The cold, analytical part of Hermione's mind noted that most of the blood patterns were from hits with blunt objects, not the sharper instruments. This meant that James was still working his way up to the more sadistic methods of torture.</p><p>There was a woman chained against the last wall, marks from torture clear across her entire body. The chain was just long enough that she could lie on the floor attached to her wrists. She was curled in on herself, shying away from the light coming from the open trapdoor. A soft whimpering came from the woman like she was trying to draw as little attention to herself as possible.</p><p>Rossi jabbed her with his gun, motioning her to the wall with the other woman.</p><p>"Turn around," James said cheerfully. "Agent Rossi here is going to handcuff you. Don't want you to try any of those fancy tricks you picked up in the War, do we?"</p><p>Hermione followed his directions, turning to face her fellow agent while he took out a pair of cuffs. While Rossi was pulling out the cuffs, Hermione looked over his shoulder and noticed that James was sweating heavily. His focus was squarely on Rossi, though he flashed a devil-may-care smile at Hermione when he noticed she was looking at him.</p><p>The metal cuffs jingled as he clicked them on her wrists. As he was putting the cuffs on her, Hermione lengthened a fingernail with a minor wandless transfiguration and stabbed Rossi in the wrist. The glazed look on Rossi's face went away as he jerked away from the minor pain. He looked down at the cuffs on her wrists in alarm, his alarm growing as he noticed the gun in his hand.</p><p>Rossi whirled around, pointing his gun at James just in time to catch a red beam to the chest. The older agent dropped like a sack of potatoes, the gun dropping out of his limp hands.</p><p>"HOW DID YOU BREAK HIM OUT?! YOU BITCH!" James sent another bolt of red at Hermione, dropping her into unconsciousness. The slender wizard stood over her unconscious body, face bright red and chest heaving. He flicked his wand and a short chain appeared, causing him to scream incoherently in rage. James grabbed Rossi's spare cuffs, cuffing him to the young woman chained to the wall. The wizard grabbed Hermione after a failed attempt to levitate her, dragging her to the chair in the center of the room. He stalked up the stairs, stopping at the top to look back at the chair he could just barely make out in the gloom. "I'll be back, bitch, and then we'll have LOTS of fun."</p><p>#</p><p>Hermione awoke gradually, though she made sure that she didn't make any movement. She listened carefully, trying to pick out any noise that might indicate locations in the room. All the witch could hear was the gentle breathing of Rossi and the more labored breathing of the young woman who was chained to the wall behind Hermione. Hermione tried to lift her arm as she opened her eyes but could feel the cold steel of chains keeping her shackled down. She could feel similar chains keeping her legs chained to the chair and floor. A door opened at the top of a flight of stairs, throwing a beam of light into the darkened room.</p><p>"Look who's awake! Good. Now it's time to play." William James sauntered down the stairs, a stubby wand held in his right hand. "I'm going to enjoy breaking the famous Hermione Granger, one of the Heroes of Hogwarts." He got to the bottom of the stairs; his thin chest puffed out in bravado.</p><p>"You think you can break me?" Hermione threw her head back and laughed. "Me. Please. Bellatrix fucking Lestrange couldn't break me and she had me for days."</p><p>At the mention of Lestrange, James' swagger broke for just a moment. He regained it quickly. "Please. I've broken plenty of women. Just because that bitch couldn't do it doesn't mean that I can't. Don't send a woman to do a man's fucking job."</p><p>James could feel Hermione glaring at him, ignoring the gentle sobs from the woman attached to the wall. James ignored her, walking over to the array of blunt instruments lining the right wall. He ran his hands across the various hammers, bats, and other instruments, glancing back over his shoulder to grin at Hermione. The grin dropped at her bored expression. James snarled and went back to looking at the wall of tools.</p><p>Hermione tried twisting her wrists to get some slack from the chains. If she could get enough slack, she might be able to reach her wand. Unfortunately, the chains flexed unnaturally as she wiggled, keeping her wrists firmly in their grasp. Hermione glanced up as James made a soft noise of satisfaction. He had picked up a cricket bat, weighing it in his hand.</p><p>"I think I have the first part of our fun. Thought I'd start off with something a from across the pond," James said with an exaggerated British accent as he swaggered towards her. "Make sure you scream nice and loud for me."</p><p>Just before he swung, a rough voice interrupted him.</p><p>"Hey, wait!"</p><p>James turned slowly, the bat still raised, to see Rossi trying to straighten himself against the wall. "What do you want, old man? You'll get your turn, don't worry."</p><p>"Hold on. You know that we're FBI agents, right? Our team is going to be looking for us soon."</p><p>James threw back his head and laughed, lowering the bat. "Please. I already used your phone to tell them you couldn't find me at home and were sitting on the house, waiting for me to get home. It's already been two hours, they ain't worried about you. Besides, I already tossed your phones." The slim unsub walked to Rossi and crouched down to look him in the eye. "I'm going to take my time breaking you and Agent Queen Bitch over here." James patted Rossi on the face with a condescending smirk.</p><p>The unsub turned and slammed the cricket bat into the woman huddled against the wall. Hermione and Rossi could hear the sickening crackle of a rib breaking just before the woman screamed in agony. James whipped around, a demented grin splitting his face. He sauntered over to the chained-up Hermione and slammed the bat into the back of her chair, jolting her forward. A casual backswing landed on her shoulder, eliciting a small grunt from the witch.</p><p>"Why do you only hit the women," Rossi asked. "Is there something that a woman has done to make you hate them like this?"</p><p>James narrowed his eyes and swung the bat again, whacking Hermione hard on the knee. The witch let out another grunt of pain but otherwise kept her poisonous glare at James.</p><p>"I don't know, Rossi. Seems like he has all the phallic representation he needs right here. Maybe he's trying to make up for something?" Hermione gave a small, derisive laugh. "He can't stick it in, so he has to beat with representation instead."</p><p>James screamed in an incoherent rage. He swung the bat at Hermione, connecting with her left shoulder and a backswing to her left upper arm. By the third swing, his strength gave out as he hit her chest. James was breathing heavily, sweat pouring down his face. He leaned on the bat as he tried to catch his breath.</p><p>"Too bad you're as bad with the representation as you are with the real thing," Hermione said with a slightly pained grin.</p><p>"Hey, punk. Try hitting someone your own size. Well, at least someone closer to your size." Rossi taunted James, trying to draw him over and away from his fellow agent. Hermione started laughing.</p><p>"This little twat? Please, it would terrify him to fight anyone who isn't chained up. That's why he has all these lovely dungeon chains." She shook her chain-covered limbs for emphasis.</p><p>James screamed again, slammed the bat into the ground, and stomped out of the basement. Hermione's derisive laughter followed him out of the room, dying off immediately after he left.</p><p>"Are you alright?" Rossi asked as he tried to crane his neck around to see her front.</p><p>"I'm fine," Hermione replied. "I've taken worse. He's not exactly competing with Morgan or Harry for an athletic award." She coughed and spat to one side. "I'm not looking forward to the next round, though. He's definitely devolving."</p><p>"He definitely is. Alice," Rossi turned to the woman huddled against the wall, "are you ok?"</p><p>The woman glanced back at Rossi, terror in her eyes. She shook her head quickly and curled tighter into herself. Rossi glanced back at Hermione.</p><p>"If he sent an all-clear to the team, how long do you think it will take for the team to come hunting for us?"</p><p>Hermione let out a breathless laugh that ended with a slight groan of pain. "Well, Harry already knows something is wrong. So, at worst, it's just him coming for us."</p><p>"How would he already know? You don't have a secret phone on you, right?"</p><p>"We have a system in place. Every time we do fieldwork, we make contact once an hour. There's an hour of leeway, but any longer without contact is considered an all-hands-on-deck emergency."</p><p>"Hopefully, he'll get here in time."</p><p>Hermione sighed and tried shifting the chains once again. The next round of torture would be significantly worse after she and Rossi taunted James and bruised his ego. If only she could reach her wand, she could get out of the chains and get the injured woman out. Her head jerked back to the door at the top of the stairs as it slammed open. James had a hard look in his eyes as he came down the stairs, his wand clutched in his hand. He brandished it angrily at Rossi the moment he hit the bottom of the stairs.</p><p>"Crucio!"</p><p>A red jet of light hit Rossi, causing him to scream in unexpected agony. It felt like knives were being repeatedly stabbed through his muscles as acid and salt poured over him. The agony stopped as quickly as it began. Rossi panted, his vision blurring and his head pounding. "What the hell was that?!"</p><p>"Something more than you could ever imagine, pig," James sneered, sweat beading on his forehead. He lifted his wand again, flicking it at the woman against the wall. "Crucio!"</p><p>The woman screamed, her voice cracking as the scream continued. A frown spread across James' face as she screamed. He slashed his wand down, canceling the spell. Another flick of the wand brought a baseball bat from the wall into his left hand. He slammed the bat into the woman, eliciting another scream of pain. This time, a smile came to his face. He took a few more swings, his smile growing with every scream and snapping of bone.</p><p>"That's better!" James whirled around and pranced around Hermione in the chained chair, leaning down to look into her eyes. "Using magic on you bitches just isn't as satisfying as getting my hands dirty!" He looked down at the bloody bat in his hand. "I wonder if it'll feel just as good hitting a witch as it does hitting a No-Maj? Let's find out!"</p><p>Hermione relaxed her body as James reared back and swung with the bat, connecting with her upper arm. She hissed in pain but wouldn't give him the satisfaction of a scream.</p><p>"Please, you hit like a child. Literal children have hit me harder than that." Hermione looked into his eyes, channeling all her disdain and loathing of him into her gaze. "If you're going to be such a little twat, don't even bother trying. Bellatrix did it better, you're just pathetic."</p><p>James swung the bat with renewed vigor and frenzy. This time, he lasted longer. Five, ten, fifteen hits landed on various parts of Hermione's arms, torso, and legs before he ran out of steam. He stopped once he ran out of breath, panting and sweating heavily. A crazed look was in his eyes as he stood there, his chest heaving as he tried to regain his breath. James dropped the bat and pulled his wand again.</p><p>"Crucio!"</p><p>Another red beam of light shot out of the stubby wand, hitting Hermione. The witch didn't scream with pain like Rossi and Alice, she just kept staring directly into James' eyes. She bit her lip to keep from screaming, refusing to give him the satisfaction of seeing her in pain. After a few seconds that felt like an eternity, James lifted his wand. He looked almost ready to collapse, his arms limp.</p><p>"Oooooh. That tickled," Hermione deadpanned. She kept her eyes locked on James, forcing herself to not tremor with pain as her body wanted. 'Damn it, if only I had learned Legilimency! That's it, Harry is teaching me the minute we get home!'</p><p>James screamed in an incoherent rage. The slim man tried to grab the cricket off the floor to beat Hermione again, but he couldn't pick it up.</p><p>"Throwing around those kinds of spells is a little different than normal spells, isn't it?" Hermione laughed derisively at James failing to lift the cricket bat more than a couple of inches off the floor. 'That's right. Keep your attention on me. I can take whatever you dish out, punk, at least until Harry gets here. If he was telling the truth and it's been two hours already, the calvary is coming. Harry, hurry up!'</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Thank you for reading! Will Harry show up and save the day or will Hermione and Rossi figure a way out of this mess on their own? Find out next time on Bunker Shot! This next chapter should be the finale.</p><p>On a related note to Bunker Shot, please let me know if there is interest in creating more 'episodes' of Harry and Hermione working with the BAU or maybe a series of stories about Harry as a wizarding cop in Britain prior to him going over to the BAU. I started this story a couple of years ago as a way to practice writing crime drama instead of straight fantasy and I like the style. If there's interest, I may continue with these kinds of stories.</p><p>Please Like and review! Reviews really do give me energy to write more.</p>
        </blockquote><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>This is a fic that I have been working on for the last couple of years over on FFN, hence the shifting quality of the various chapters, and decided to share on this site as well. This was my first attempt at writing crime drama, so any constructive criticism is welcome. </p>
<p>Please read and comment, feedback does help motivate me to write.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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